Cruz primary rival wants court to rule him winner

Jonathan Ramos went to court yesterday, seeking to overturn the May 18 Democratic primary election he lost to state Rep. Angel Cruz for the state House's 180th District seat.

Ramos and two supporters filed a petition in the Common Pleas Court, complaining that Cruz and his brother, Luis, tried to remove judges of election from polling places through fraud and intimidation in the 7th Ward, where Angel Cruz is the leader. They also accuse the Cruz brothers of taking tapes that record the results on voting machines and other materials away from polling places.

Some of those materials are still missing, according to the city's Board of Elections.

"The fraud and error was sufficiently widespread to reverse the will of the electorate," Ramos told the court in his filing, which said Cruz beat him by 124 votes.

Cruz did not respond to requests for comment yesterday.

The 180th District stretches from Diamond Street in North Philly to Roosevelt Boulevard in Juniata Park.

Unofficial results show Cruz beat Ramos by 142 votes. The Ramos camp said that was reduced to 124 votes when absentee ballots and provisional ballots were counted.

Ramos asks the court to order the Board of Elections and secretary of state to not certify the results of the election, to order an investigation and to take any other appropriate action, "including, but not limited" to having Ramos declared the winner.

The state Attorney General's Office yesterday said the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office referred two complaints last week already filed by Ramos.

"We'll be looking at all issues," said Nils Hagen-Frederiksen, a spokesman for the Attorney General's Office. "This will be added to that."